Dr. Shantanu Bhattacharya, professor, Department of Organic Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science and Dr. Satyajeet Mayor, professor at the National Centre of Biological Sciences, have been awarded the prestigious Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award for distinguished contributions in molecular research, which would give significant leads to drugs and medical technology.

Dr. Shantanu Bhattacharya is involved in the design and synthesis of different types of molecules like surfactants, lipids, besides nucleic acid binding and modifying molecules with the molecular mechanism of drug action on DNA, protein-DNA interactions, activation of ambient oxygen of gene transfer.

Dr. Satyajeet Mayor, who has developed and exploited digital imaging and quantitative fluorescence microscopy techniques to study cell membrane organisation in terms of the sorting properties and endocytic pathways of a variety molecules, has also studied the trafficking of membrane lipids, proteins and lipid tethered proteins and their nanoscale organisation in vivo.

The Bhatnagar Award was instituted in 1957 in honour of late Dr. Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, an eminent scientist and founder director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Each prize carries a citation, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.